2010 OPEN WATER FISHING GOES OUT WITH A BANG...

With the boat under a temporary cover to protect it against filling with snow, and the predicted air temperature expected to get into the low teens this week, I'm pulling the plug on open water fishing from my boat.


Yesterday, my open water season ended with a bang, it ended on a very positive note. I had arrived at work feeling poorly, so I excused myself mid-morning to get in some therapy and relaxation by fishing Lake Champlain.

The air temperature was a very tolerable 35° F and the water was flat when I launched the boat just before the noon hour on the "Inland Sea" portion of the lake.  I motored out a few hundred yards and set up a line on a down-rigger for Landlocked Atlantic Salmon.  I put the rod in the holder and it fired...fish on! 
For he next 10 minutes or so, one rod was all I could handle.  I had fish after fish on the first set up while trying to set up another down-rigger.  I had four fish in the boat and released before I was able to get the other side of the boat set up.

I knew this was going to be a blast.  Steering, fighting fish, solo in the boat, and busy as all heck!
Honeybee's by Tamiron Sporting Goods dressed in orange were the hot ticket for the day. 

I concentrated on an area known as the "Cowbanks", where I couldn't keep the Honeybee's in the water.  Amazing action, fish after fish after fish. Granted, these weren't the big fish that are returning to open water after spawning that I was hoping for, but legal sized and full of energy...what a blast.

I fished for a total of two hours and forty-five minutes and landed 16 of the 18 fish I had on.  All but one were Landlocked Atlantic Salmon.  The one that wasn't a salmon was a very pretty, deeply colored Brown Trout, that thought it was a salmon when it made a beautiful jump and waved good-bye at the same time.  Easy come, easy go.

I ended up keeping two fish for the freezer that had gotten their mouths tore up pretty badly, fighting for their lives.  Their fight wasn't in vain, they'll be delicious when served and provide nourishment at the top of the food chain.

Today, I'll fight the wind and snow flakes, stripping the boat of it's open water accessories and reminisce about the great open water season of 2010 on Lake Champlain.

I'll put the word out that "I NEED A RIDE!!!" and hopefully get on someone else's boat for another trip or two before the ice locks up the launches and even the hardiest of the Frostbite Fleet surrender to Old Man Winter.

Stay tuned...there will be plenty of hard water action from the ice of Lake Champlain to report!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Raz

2010 OPEN WATER FISHING GOES OUT WITH A BANG...